Gas Light owner says he's trying to reduce music noise

PORTSMOUTH — The city is waiting to hear from the attorney for the Portsmouth Gas Light Co., after threatening in June to take the restaurant to court if its outdoor concerts continued to create a “public nuisance.”

Comment

By Jeff McMenemy

seacoastonline.com

By Jeff McMenemy

Posted Jul. 8, 2014 at 4:16 PM
Updated Jul 8, 2014 at 4:18 PM

By Jeff McMenemy

Posted Jul. 8, 2014 at 4:16 PM
Updated Jul 8, 2014 at 4:18 PM

» Social News

PORTSMOUTH — The city is waiting to hear from the attorney for the Portsmouth Gas Light Co., after threatening in June to take the restaurant to court if its outdoor concerts continued to create a “public nuisance.”

City Attorney Robert Sullivan said he expects attorney Jonathan Flagg, who represents the Gas Light, to submit some kind of plan to address the noise issues raised by multiple neighbors.

“I think it may be possible for the city in conjunction with the downtown residential neighbors to reach some enforceable agreement with the Gas Light that everyone can live with,” Sullivan said Monday.

Sullivan sent Flagg a letter June 19 after the city received multiple complaints from residents about noise coming from the Gas Light concerts.

“It seemed like there were nights when half of downtown was bothered by that noise,” he said.

Sullivan has spoken to Flagg on a couple of occasions since warning the Gas Light that the city was prepared to act. “The message has been consistent that if the Gas Light creates a public nuisance we will sue the Gas Light,” he said.

But the city attorney said since sending the letter he's heard that the restaurant has been “significantly more quiet than they have been previously this summer.” Before the city would file an injunction, there would have to multiple complaints from people about the noise, he said.

“A tremendous amount of noise that affected one person would not be a public nuisance,” Sullivan said. “If the noise is loud enough to affect enough people in the community, than we would judge it to be a public problem, not a private one.”

Sullivan said there is “not a litmus test number” about how many people have to complain.

Gas Light owner Paul Sorli said he believes restaurant employees have “toned the sound down pretty considerably,” since receiving the letter from the city. He confirmed his attorney has been talking to city officials and he is also looking at different ways to contain the noise from the outdoor concerts.

“We're definitely working on it,” Sorli said Monday. “We've had meetings and sound engineers come in.”

Sorli has said previously the Gas Light is trying to be a good neighbor, and he pointed to the role the Market Street restaurant has had in spurring the downtown economy.

The outdoor concerts once even featured country superstar Taylor Swift, Sorli said.

A group of downtown residents say loud noise from the concerts diminishes their quality of life, forcing them to keep their windows closed in the summer and preventing them from sleeping before it stops at 11 p.m.

Market Street resident Ryan D. Abood sent a letter to Sullivan last week, saying although the music has been quieter than normal, it is still too loud.

“I sincerely appreciate the return to sanity that we've had the last few weeks but I am concerned that we're falling short of permanently stopping this problem,” Abood said in the letter. “The Gas Light has a long history of turning it down and then slowly over weeks or months returning to their previous volume.”

He noted the Gas Light has not adopted several suggestions made by their own booking agent that he believes would help address the noise complaints.

“The Gas Light does not own and operate their own sound system. The Gas Light has not purchased low sound pressure level speakers that would allow them to keep it loud for patrons, but not violate the neighbors rights,” he wrote. “The Gas Light has not turned the sound stage either inward or toward the garage. The Gas Light has not installed a sound meter that allows the band, the public and the staff to keep an eye on the sound pressure levels.”

Abood believes the city noise ordinance is still being violated every night and suggested a way to address the issue short of taking the restaurant to court. “Why can't we formalize a set of rules that allows the Gas Light to still operate with live music but sets reasonable terms by which they can do so?” Abood wrote in the letter.